Literary Terms Wiki
Welcome to the English 10C Literary Terms Wiki This wiki is for students in English 10C to track and define important literary terms used in the course. Please feel free to add, categorize, and define literary terms as they arise throughout the quarter. Also add or link to relevant examples. Terms Narrative *'Aphorism': A terse statement of truthful or original thought, generally said in a memorable and witty manner. Aphorisms are rampant in the writing of Oscar Wilde; examples in "The Importance of Being Earnest" include Algernon's bold statement that "the truth is rarely pure and never simple." *Free indirect discourse: a direct discourse related by the narrator, sometimes making difficult to tell the difference between their thoughts. *'Epigrammatical': relating to an epigram, which is a short way of stating an aphorism,'or a statement of truth. "Aphoristic" and "epigrammatic" are words that can be used interchangeably to describe Oscar Wilde's writing style in The Importance of Being Earnest. In this case, Wilde deliberately creates paradoxical statements to poke fun at moral conventions. "A man who desires to get married should know either everything or nothing" is such an example. *'Frame narrative: Related to ""metafiction"", a frame narrative is a larger story that sets the stage for a smaller story or ""inset narrative."" The man telling a story to his lover in "The Tale" by Joseph Conrad is an example of a frame narrative. *'Inset narrative': Related to ""metafiction," an inset narrative is a smaller story set up by a larger story or ""frame narrative."" The story of the commanding officer in "The Tale" by Joseph Conrad is an example of an inset narrative. Poetic Form and Figures of Speech *'Caesura': An audible pause in line of poetry, which may place emphasis on particular words in the line for the sake of meaning or rhythm. In Tennyson's In Memoriam, there is a caesura in the first line of the prologue between the words 'God' and 'immortal', placing emphasis on 'God': "Strong Son of God, immortal Love." (p.5) *'Catalexis': The final syllable of a metrical foot has been removed to possibly add emphasis to the concluding word. *'Concatentation': The linking together of words in a consecutive chain or series, usually with the use of conjunctions. For example, in Charles Hamilton Sorley's "To Germany," he repeats the word "and" to concatenate the phrases of the sonnet. Sorley's repetition of this conjunction in the following excerpt joins these lines together in a way that sounds childish and immature: "And we, the tapering paths of our own mind,/ And in each others' dearest ways we stand,/ And hiss and hate. And the blind fight the blind." (lines 6-8). *'Elegy': an emotive lamentation or mourning for the dead *'Enjambment': When a line or stanza continues on to the next without punctuation. *'Envelope Rhyme': A rhyme that follows a symmetrical, abba pattern. The envelope rhyme is used extensively in "In Memoriam." *'Dactyl': From the Greek for finger, of one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables. *'Intertextuality': The ways in which a text affiliates or alludes itself to similar writing *'Pararhyme': When two words do not rhyme perfectly *'Parataxis:' Where you get a striking juxtaposition between two components of a sentence or two sentence units that don't necessarily have any connection to one another. The comparison between "lovely lads" and "dead and rotten" (p.1) in "On the Idle Hill of Summer" by A.E. Housman is an example of parataxis. In this case, "lovely" and "dead and rotten" are starkly contrasted, perhaps to call attention to an underlying sentiment in the poem. *'Repetition': The strategy of repeating words, sounds, phrases, lines, meter, etc. to convey unity in a work. The stanzas referencing Christmas in Tennyson's "In Memoriam" demonstrate repetition. (p. 24, 53 and 79) *'Spondee': Two stressed syllables in a metric foot. *'Syllogism': An argument, that has three parts (for example it may follow an If/But/Therefore format). An example of this that we looked at in lecture was in Tennyson's In Memoriam, ''specifically Lyric LXI on page 44. "If, in thy second state sublime," (1)... "And if thou cast thine eyes below" (5)..."Yet turn thee to the doubtful shore," (9)... *'Understatement': a figure of speech that intentionally describes something in a diminished way. The effect of this may be to call more attention to the statement itself. On page 21 of "The Wonderful Adventures..." author Mary Seacole refers to "the poor mortals whom you once held enslaved." This is an understatement because it deliberately mentions something very serious in a casual tone. The use of "you" helps to directly target the British readership, perhaps with the intention of reminding her audience of the injustices caused by slavery. *'Trochee': a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable Genre *Domestic fiction: a genre that usually deals with short stories about domestic affairs and sentimentalism from a humanistic point of view, specially popular during the 1850s and 1860s. Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell is an example of a work of domestic fiction. *'Metafiction': Fiction written about fiction. This often takes the form of a story or '''inset narrative' being told within another story, or frame narrative The function of this may be to question the differences between reality and make-believe in the storytelling process. "The Tale" by Joseph Conrad is an example of metafiction. *'Metapoetry': Poetry about poetry; writer is often self-conscious of how and what is being conveyed in poetic form *'Society comedy': a comedy intended for an elite audience of society. The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde is an example of a Society comedy. *'New term here': replace this text with a definition and perhaps an example. New Category *'Irony': replace this text with a definition and perhaps an example. *'Satire': replace this text with a definition and perhaps an example. Historical/Contextual Terms *'Jingoism': Blatant and overzealous patriotism, often advocating the use of violence and excessive force against other nations. This also may include feelings of national superiority and bias/racism. During World War I, many authors, such as Edward Thomas, grappled with the Jingoist notions that were popular in many countries at the time. In Thomas' poetry, specifically, he attempts to find a balance between loving one's nation and hating one's foe without portraying himself as a Jingoist. *'Aesthete: '''A person who espouses the idea that beauty is the highest goal in all aspects of life. With regard to art the aesthete believes in "art for art's sake," which means that art should have no moral or ethical aims beyond depicting what is beautiful. Oscar Wilde carefully cultivated an image of himself as an aesthete of the highest degree, and his characters Algernon Moncrieff and Jack Worthing, from ''The Importance of Being Earnest, could be described as aesthetes as well. Links CCLE Class Website Category:Browse